


broken boards

by SandM1827



Series: AK One Shots [1]
Category: Animal Kingdom (TV)
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 16:18:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11740674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandM1827/pseuds/SandM1827
Summary: "You're gay, Deran. You told your mom and the world didn't end."[Missing Scene from 2x04 Broken Boards]





	broken boards

**Author's Note:**

> So Adrian went from a little apathetic (intentionally so, probably) and surprised to see Deran at the bar in 2x04 to happily asking him for drinks to catch up in 2x08, and while I liked it, the quick shift seemed a little odd. There just seemed to be something missing that would connect their interactions in those two episodes, and it wouldn't leave me alone so here we are.

Adrian had spent a good portion of the last several months actively avoiding Deran, going as far as to give up some of his favorite spots on the chance that they might run into each other. It wasn’t that he was scared of what Deran would do or how he would react after their last encounter. It was just that he was well versed in how it would all go down if they did lay eyes on one another.

If they saw each other, their cycle of friendship, fucking, and fighting would begin once more. Adrian just wanted to break the cycle and help them both move on as painlessly as possible. Somehow, it made sense that the prospect of free booze for a broken surfboard is what would dismantle all Adrian’s hard work.

Seeing Deran behind the bar had thrown him off, but more than anything, it was his whole demeanor that made Adrian stand back and take notice. Deran was nervous, sure, but he was happy, lighter than Adrian had seen him in years. Adrian had to force himself to look away when he’d brandished that proud grin when declaring the bar they were standing in was his.

Of course, Smurf had to ruin it by calling for a speech she knew Deran would fumble through, further twisting the knife she’d lodged in her son’s back by giving one of her own. While the crowd was all too happy to give her their rapt attention, Adrian couldn’t bring himself to listen. He tuned her out the best he could, and tried to switch his focus to something else, but all he could see was Deran.

Deran, who once again walked away, only this time out the back door to flee from his mother’s viciousness. It took everything Adrian had not to follow, like he would have any other time. Instead, he weaved through the crowd and slinked out the front as quietly as he could, choosing to remove himself from the situation.

He couldn’t really begin to fully comprehend what drew him back to the bar later that night, well after closing. Maybe it was that little part of him that was a bit of a masochist, maybe it was the residual feelings he still held for Deran, he supposed it didn’t really matter. Either way, he still ended up at the bar in the middle of the night, when he should have been at home in bed.

The front lot was pretty much empty, save for Deran’s truck and Craig’s bike. Adrian was barely out of his Wagoneer when the doors of the establishment swung open and Deran emerged, hauling a couple over-packed garbage bags.

“Hey,” He called out as he jogged across the parking lot to lend a hand. “You need some help with those?”

“It’s okay. I got it.” Deran hefted the bags into the dumpster. “You’re, um, you’re back.”

“Uh, yeah,” Adrian shifted awkwardly on his feet, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. “I wanted to see if you were okay after…Smurf.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, I’m fine.” Deran nodded, raking a hand through his hair. “By the time I came back in, everyone seemed to have forgotten she said anything, so that’s a plus.”

“Yeah, it is.” It was comforting to know that, at the very least, Smurf didn’t ruin the night for Deran like she’d wanted to. “Well, I’m glad it worked out for you. The bar, it’s good. It’s nice.”

“Thanks.”

“I should go,” He had done what he had come to do, there was no reason for him to stay any longer. “I’ll see you—“

“I told her,” Deran confessed in a rush, as if he were afraid Adrian would leave before he could get the words out. “I told Smurf.”

“You told her what?”

“That I was— _I am_ gay.” Deran’s unsure gaze flickered briefly around the parking lot before locking with Adrian’s. “After her speech, she followed me outside and I told her. I told her I’m gay.”

“Oh,” Of all the things Adrian thought Deran might say, that was not one of them. “Are you—Are you okay? With that, I mean. Are you okay that you told her, that she knows?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so.” His face twisted in confusion. “I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet.”

“When it does sink in, I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Adrian never would have encouraged him to come out during the duration of their relationship had he not believed it would all be okay in the end. “Just remember that now your mom has nothing to hold over you. If she had found out on her own, she would have found a way to use it against you any way she could.”

“Yeah, she would have.” Deran agreed, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

“What did she do?” It wasn’t Adrian’s place to ask, not anymore, but he couldn’t help himself. “How did she react?”

“I think she might have already known, she was just waiting for me to catch up.” Deran sighed, scuffing the toe of his shoe over the sidewalk. “She said, _‘It’s gonna be okay, baby,_ ’ not ‘ _It’s okay, baby._ ’ ‘ _It’s gonna be okay,_ ’ like it was something she could fix.”

“I’m sorry.” Honestly, he didn’t expect anything less from Smurf Cody. “You know, it’s not…it’s not something you can fix, it’s—“

“I know. It’s who I am.” Deran squared his shoulders, stood a little taller, acceptance seeming to flood through him all at once. “I’m, um, I'm sorry, Adrian. I’m sorry I didn’t tell her sooner, that I couldn’t tell her when it counted.”

“It always counts, Deran.” Yeah, Adrian would have loved for Deran to have come to terms with his sexuality sooner, to have told Smurf years ago, but that didn’t mean he was any less proud of him for doing it now. “I’m just glad you’re finally free.”

“Free,” Deran tested the word on his tongue. “Is that was this is?”

“Yeah, it kind of is. A part of you that was hidden doesn’t have to be anymore.” Adrian hoped that newfound freedom would push away any dread or regret Deran could have later when it all really did sink in. “You’re gay, Deran. You told your mom and the world didn’t end.”

“Yeah, not yet.” Deran snorted derisively. “Give it time.”

“If you’re still worried about your mom turning her back on you because of it, you shouldn’t be. You don’t need her the way she needs you. Why do you think she always sends one of your brothers to bring you home when you walk away?” Smurf conned her boys into thinking she had all the power, Adrian had figured that out a long time ago. “She needs you to worship her, but you don’t have to. You can be your own person. You can be her son without being her property. She doesn’t control you, not unless you let her.”

“I’m done letting her,” Deran decided, conviction heavy in his voice. “That’s what the bar is about. It’s mine, not hers, not anyone else’s. It’s mine and no one is going to take it from me, not even Smurf.”

“Good.”

“You know, you, uh, you never got that beer.” Deran mentioned, motioning toward the bar. “Heather said you left pretty quick after Smurf’s little show.”

“I thought it’d be easier for you if I wasn’t there when you came back in, after Smurf’s speech and all.” The bar patrons who were strangers meant nothing, but a friendly face would have only added to Deran’s embarrassment, and Adrian refused to be party to that. “I didn’t want you to feel how your mother wanted you to feel. I didn’t want her to win.”

“Yeah, thanks,” A grateful smile spread over Deran’s lips. “Do you want to grab that beer now? On the house. You don’t even have to give me a broken board.”

“I wish I could, but I can’t. I have to be up early for work.” Since he had started taking classes at UC San Diego, his weekends had pretty much been reserved for catching up on things at the shop. “Rain check?”

“Yeah, sure. Come by anytime.”

“I really do like the bar,” The outside left a lot to be desired, but inside was something else, something special. “But you know, you really should put up a--”

“ _’Put up a sign,_ ’” Deran rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, everyone keeps saying that.”

“From one business owner another, I can promise you that a sign can really help people know where the fuck they are,” One of the first things Adrian did when he opened the shop was put up a sign. What did it say? Real Surf. Why? Well, because it was a damn surf shop. “People refer to this place as the ‘mermaid’ bar, and it doesn’t even have the well-developed mermaids anymore.”

“Yeah, those are the first things I got rid of,” Deran acknowledged with a smirk. “I’ll put up a sign when I’m good and ready.”

“Sooner rather than later, Deran,” Adrian advised, wanting Deran’s bar to be as successful as it could be. “You need to finish making this bar your own. You have name for it, put it on a sign to show everyone what it is.”

“Okay, fine,” Deran Cody, ever the stubborn ass, actually relented for once. “I will get a sign. It’s not going to be right now. It’s gotta be the right sign, you know? But I’ll get a damn sign.”

“Broken boards are kind of your theme right? Use that when you do get that sign,” Since Adrian knew jackshit about running a bar, that was about all the advice he had on the subject. “Anyway, I should get going. I’ll see you around, okay?”

“Yeah, see you around.”

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://www.stilinski-ortiz.tumblr.com)


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